In recent years, the increase of patients suffered from geriatric diseases with the increase of the intake of oil has been given attention, and it has become considered that there is a strong relation between the oil intake and the crisis rates of arterial sclerosis, mammary cancer and colon cancer. Thus, the trend that the oil intake is kept at a distance is extended, and the oil substitutes utilizing polysaccharide and proteins are researched actively under present conditions. However, the popularity of oil is high so that it is very difficult to substantially decrease the oil intake in one's food life under the present circumstances. Further, the foods intended to essentially control the oil intake oils with paying attention to the digestive and absorptive properties of oils, have not developed yet.
It has been known that the digestive and absorptive properties of fats depend greatly on physical and chemical characteristics thereof, i.e., such as melting point and constituent fatty acid species. For example, the higher the melting point of an oil, the lower the digestibility and absorbability become, and the longer the carbon length of a saturated fatty acid, the lower the digestibility and absorbability become. Further, it has been known that the digestive and absorptive properties vary with the differences of the position and the combination of the fatty acids bonded to glycerol. For example, it has been reported that palmitic acid being saturated fatty acid, accelerates the absorptions of free fatty acids, in particular saturated fatty acids, since not only triglyceride bonded to 2-position is more excellent in digestive and absorptive properties than a triglyceride bonded to 1,3-position, but 2-palmitic monoglyceride produced in the process of digestion is excellent in emulsifying characters. On the other hand, it has been known that as the digestive and absorptive properties of stearic acid, the digestive and absorptive properties vary with the fatty acid constituting triglyceride. It has been reported, as the results of experiments using rats, that for example chemically synthesized tristearin is hardly digested or absorbed, but if one more two of the stearic acids within it are replaced by monounsaturated fatty acids, the stearic acid is almost absorbed. Further, it has been known that although triglycerides consisting of stearic acid and palmitic acid have very low digestive and absorptive properties, the digestive and absorptive properties are increased when it is ingested with the same amount of another liquid oil (Hashim et al., Am.J.Clin.Nutr., 31:S273-276, 1978). Therefore, it was unknown whether the digestive and absorptive properties may be decreased or not when the triglyceride consisting of stearic acid and palmitic acid is mixed with another oil and ingested.
The present inventors, in view of the above problems, have investigated repeatedly with paying attention to an all saturated acyl chain triglyceride consisting only of stearic acid and/or palmitic acid, and found that these triglycerides are hardly digested or absorbed. Further, the present inventors found that, even if an oil component containing these triglyceride is emulsified and added to foods and beverages or it is mixed with another oil components and emulsified and added to foods and beverages, yet the original oil mouth feel is kept, these triglyceride are hardly digested or absorbed. Thus the inventors completed the present invention. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide foods and beverages having digestive and absorptive properties which are decreased by blending a certain amount of all saturated acyl chain triglyceride consisting only of stearic acid and/or palmitic acid as an oil component. As a raw material for foods containing all saturated acyl chain triglyceride consisting only of stearic acid and/or palmitic acid, hardened oil is exemplified. As the past examples of the usages of the hardened oil in foods, the usage of the oil as a physical properties modifier for mayonnaise having low-temperature resistance (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No.62-25340), the usage of the oil as a physical properties modifier for liquid shortening (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No.Hei 3-12853), the usage of the oil in frozen tempura (Japanese Examine Patent Publication No.63-60977), the usage of the oil for low-temperature resistant edible oil and the like have been known. However, the usage of the hardened oil in foods and beverages which are intended to decrease the digestive and absorptive properties. As examples of the usages of the hardened oils as low-calorie oils. W/O emulsion for cooking (Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication No.Hei 1-187052) has been known. However, in the publication, the physical properties are improved and the oil content of the emulsion may be decreased by adding the hardened oil, and as the results, the oil intake is decreased to attain the low-calorie. In addition, as low-calorie oils, the low-calorie oil (Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication No.Hei 1-252248) and the oil for animal feeds (Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication No.Hei 1-85040) and the like have been known, but all of them are concerned in the usage of triglyceride consisting of saturated fatty acid having 20 or more carbon atoms, and do not decrease the digestive and absorptive properties utilizing the character of the all saturated acyl chain triglyceride consisting only of stearic acid and/or palmitic acid.